Texas·Architecture and Engineering Occupations·SOC 17-3029

Best Engineering Technologist programs in Texas, ranked by enrollment

All engineering technologists and technicians, except drafters, not listed.

40 schools in Texas run programs that feed this job, graduating 3,190 people a year. The job pays a median of $73,860 in Texas across about 7,110 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledFiber Optics InstructorLaser Technician (Laser Tech)Optics Technician (Optics Tech)Photonics Technician (Photonics Tech)NDT Specialist (Non-Destructive Testing Specialist)NDT Technician (Non-Destructive Testing Technician)NDE Technician (Non-Destructive Evaluation Technician)NDT Technical Specialist (Non-Destructive Testing Technical Specialist)
Graduates / yr
3,190
in Texas
Median pay · Texas
$73,860
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
7,110
people employed
Schools
40
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
48%
across those schools
Median net price
$23,976
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Texas that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

Engineering/Engineering-Related Technologies/Technicians
CIP 15.05
Environmental Control Technologies/Technicians
2,325graduates / yr
21 schools · 1 specialization · 72.9% of pipeline
Grad earnings $36,407
Engineering/Engineering-Related Technologies/Technicians
CIP 15.04
Electromechanical Technologies/Technicians
436graduates / yr
5 schools · 1 specialization · 13.7% of pipeline
Grad earnings $60,286
Engineering/Engineering-Related Technologies/Technicians
CIP 15.12
Computer Engineering Technologies/Technicians
204graduates / yr
6 schools · 3 specializations · 6.4% of pipeline
Grad earnings $48,829
Engineering/Engineering-Related Technologies/Technicians
CIP 15.17
Energy Systems Technologies/Technicians
65graduates / yr
4 schools · 2 specializations · 2.1% of pipeline
Grad earnings $63,554
Engineering/Engineering-Related Technologies/Technicians
CIP 15.06
Industrial Production Technologies/Technicians
55graduates / yr
3 schools · 2 specializations · 1.8% of pipeline
Grad earnings $57,188
Engineering/Engineering-Related Technologies/Technicians
CIP 15.03
Electrical/Electronic Engineering Technologies/Technicians
38graduates / yr
1 schools · 2 specializations · 1.2% of pipeline
Grad earnings $59,859
Engineering/Engineering-Related Technologies/Technicians
CIP 15.01
Architectural Engineering Technologies/Technicians
33graduates / yr
2 schools · 1 specialization · 1.0% of pipeline
Grad earnings $50,625
Engineering/Engineering-Related Technologies/Technicians
CIP 15.08
Mechanical Engineering Related Technologies/Technicians
20graduates / yr
1 schools · 1 specialization · 0.6% of pipeline
Grad earnings $61,021
Engineering/Engineering-Related Technologies/Technicians
CIP 15.00
Engineering Technologies/Technicians
14graduates / yr
2 schools · 1 specialization · 0.4% of pipeline
Grad earnings $59,718

14 programs in Texas that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Texas (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own Texas page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1
CIP 15.0501In Texas
2,325
72.9%
21$36,407$10,250
2
CIP 15.0401In Texas
436
13.7%
5$60,286$15,383
3
CIP 15.1201In Texas
102
3.2%
6$48,829$21,696
4
CIP 15.1202In Texas
74
2.3%
3$48,829$21,696
5
CIP 15.1703In Texas
37
1.2%
1$63,554$17,750
6
CIP 15.0101In Texas
33
1.0%
2$50,625$21,717
7
CIP 15.0611In Texas
31
1.0%
2$57,188$22,000
8
CIP 15.0307In Texas
30
0.9%
1$59,859$15,372
9
CIP 15.1204In Texas
28
0.9%
1$48,829$21,696
10
CIP 15.1701In Texas
28
0.9%
4$63,554$17,750
11
CIP 15.0614In Texas
24
0.8%
3$57,188$22,000
12
CIP 15.0806In Texas
20
0.6%
1$61,021$24,436
13
CIP 15.0001In Texas
14
0.4%
2$59,718$25,375
14
CIP 15.0304In Texas
8
0.3%
1$59,859$15,372

Top 25 schools in Texas

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 13 of the 40 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Southern Careers Institute - San Antonio
San Antonio, TX Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
269Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering Technology/Technician$32,42161%$30,890
2Collin County Community College District
McKinney, TX Public · 3 feeder programs
241Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering Technology/Technician20%
3College of Biomedical Equipment Technology
Schertz, TX Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
225Biomedical Technology/Technician71%
4Texas State Technical College
Waco, TX Public · 3 feeder programs
222Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering Technology/Technician$33,99546%
5St Philip's College
San Antonio, TX Public · 3 feeder programs
197Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering Technology/Technician28%
6Miller - Motte College - STVT - McAllen
McAllen, TX Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
189Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering Technology/Technician78%$23,260
7Austin Community College District
Austin, TX Public · 1 feeder programs
170Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering Technology/Technician$46,62320%
8Lincoln College of Technology - Grand Prairie
Grand Prairie, TX Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
170Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering Technology/Technician$40,77873%$31,422
9Miller - Motte College - STVT - San Antonio
San Antonio, TX Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
163Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering Technology/Technician$32,36469%$23,546
10Laredo College
Laredo, TX Public · 1 feeder programs
135Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering Technology/Technician$31,03730%
11Miller - Motte College - STVT - Arlington
Arlington, TX Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
135Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering Technology/Technician84%$24,000
12South Texas Vocational Technical Institute - Brownsville
Brownsville, TX Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
135Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering Technology/Technician78%$22,129
13San Jacinto Community College
Pasadena, TX Public · 2 feeder programs
118Biomedical Technology/Technician$53,71030%
14Tarrant County College District
Fort Worth, TX Public · 2 feeder programs
111Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering Technology/Technician34%
15Miller - Motte College - STVT - Corpus Christi
Corpus Christi, TX Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
91Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering Technology/Technician$32,36468%$22,622
16Southern Careers Institute - Harlingen
Harlingen, TX Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
70Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering Technology/Technician$32,42160%$24,989
17Dallas College
Dallas, TX Public · 1 feeder programs
65Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering Technology/Technician32%
18Grayson College
Denison, TX Public · 2 feeder programs
62Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering Technology/Technician40%
19Sam Houston State University
Huntsville, TX Public · 3 feeder programs
54Computer Software Technology/Technician$38,95755%90%
20University of Houston
Houston, TX Public · 1 feeder programs
45Computer Engineering Technology/Technician$56,52765%74%
21Midland College
Midland, TX Public · 1 feeder programs
35Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering Technology/Technician23%
22Southern Careers Institute - Austin
Austin, TX Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
32Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering Technology/Technician$32,42153%$23,976
23Lamar Institute of Technology
Beaumont, TX Public · 1 feeder programs
31Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering Technology/Technician31%
24Lee College
Baytown, TX Public · 1 feeder programs
27Computer/Computer Systems Technology/Technician53%
25South Texas College
McAllen, TX Public · 1 feeder programs
23Computer Engineering Technology/Technician27%

All 40 schools in Texas

Every school in Texas with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.

All schools in Texas that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Southern Careers Institute - San AntonioSan AntonioPrivate for-profit2691
Collin County Community College DistrictMcKinneyPublic2413
College of Biomedical Equipment TechnologySchertzPrivate for-profit2251
Texas State Technical CollegeWacoPublic2223
St Philip's CollegeSan AntonioPublic1973
Miller - Motte College - STVT - McAllenMcAllenPrivate for-profit1891
Austin Community College DistrictAustinPublic1701
Lincoln College of Technology - Grand PrairieGrand PrairiePrivate for-profit1701
Miller - Motte College - STVT - San AntonioSan AntonioPrivate for-profit1631
Laredo CollegeLaredoPublic1351
Miller - Motte College - STVT - ArlingtonArlingtonPrivate for-profit1351
South Texas Vocational Technical Institute - BrownsvilleBrownsvillePrivate for-profit1351
San Jacinto Community CollegePasadenaPublic1182
Tarrant County College DistrictFort WorthPublic1112
Miller - Motte College - STVT - Corpus ChristiCorpus ChristiPrivate for-profit911

What engineering technologists and technicians earn in Texas

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in Texas
$73,860
Mean annual
$75,100
Jobs in state
7,110
What the range looks like
10th pct$38,720Median$73,86090th pct$113,050
Versus the national median
-5.7%

U.S. median $78,350. Texas pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
1.31×

Concentrated here: Texas employs more of this job per worker than the U.S. average.

Metro areas in Texas

Corpus Christi, TX
$77,070median
90 jobs
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX
$76,120median
2,860 jobs
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX
$71,930median
1,290 jobs
Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX
$72,580median
90 jobs
San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX
$71,150median
330 jobs
Waco, TX
$72,500median
70 jobs
Brownsville-Harlingen, TX
$73,900median
70 jobs
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX
$66,910median
480 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+1.5%
Little or no change
Openings per year
5,700
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
1,000
67,300 → 68,300
Typical entry education
Associate's degree

Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.

How to get in

The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Engineering Technologists and Technicians page.

How to become a Engineering Technologist

Job zone 2 of 5 · SVP Below 6.0
Typical entry education
Associate's degree

Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.

Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience. For example, landscaping and groundskeeping workers might require very little training or previous experience, while agricultural equipment operators can benefit from on-the job training.

Ranges from a few days to one year of on-the-job training.

Top skills

Reading ComprehensionActive ListeningCritical ThinkingMonitoringActive LearningWriting

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in Texas

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 25 majors mapped to Engineering Technologists and Technicians25 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 15.0001Applied Engineering Technologies/Technicians
  • 15.0101Architectural Engineering Technologies/Technicians
  • 15.0304Laser and Optical Technology/Technician
  • 15.0307Audio Engineering Technology/Technician
  • 15.0401Biomedical Technology/Technician
  • 15.0501Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering Technology/Technician
  • 15.0599Environmental Control Technologies/Technicians, Other
  • 15.0607Plastics and Polymer Engineering Technology/Technician
  • 15.0611Metallurgical Technology/Technician
  • 15.0614Welding Engineering Technology/Technician
  • 15.0615Chemical Engineering Technology/Technician
  • 15.0617Composite Materials Technology/Technician
  • 15.0806Marine Engineering Technology/Technician
  • 15.0807Motorsports Engineering Technology/Technician
  • 15.0901Mining Technology/Technician
  • 15.1103Hydraulics and Fluid Power Technology/Technician
  • 15.1201Computer Engineering Technology/Technician
  • 15.1202Computer/Computer Systems Technology/Technician
  • 15.1203Computer Hardware Technology/Technician
  • 15.1204Computer Software Technology/Technician
  • 15.1299Computer Engineering Technologies/Technicians, Other
  • 15.1401Nuclear Engineering Technology/Technician
  • 15.1503Packaging Science
  • 15.1701Energy Systems Technology/Technician
  • 15.1702Power Plant Technology/Technician

Common questions

Answers for people weighing engineering technologists and technicians programs in Texas.

What degree do you need to become an Engineering Technologist?+

Associate's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering Technology/Technician, which awarded 2,325 degrees in Texas in 2024-25, 72.9% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming an Engineering Technologist?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 14 programs to this occupation. The largest are Environmental Control Technologies/Technicians, Electromechanical Technologies/Technicians, Computer Engineering Technologies/Technicians, Energy Systems Technologies/Technicians, plus 5 more. Together they graduate about 3,190 people a year in Texas.

How much do engineering technologists and technicians earn in Texas?+

The median is $73,860 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 5.7% below the U.S. median of $78,350. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.

Is demand for engineering technologists and technicians growing?+

BLS projects a +1.5% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, little or no change, with roughly 5,700 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in Texas?+

40 institutions in Texas reported graduates from at least one of the 14 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.

What other job titles do engineering technologists and technicians work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Fiber Optics Instructor, Laser Technician (Laser Tech), Optics Technician (Optics Tech), Photonics Technician (Photonics Tech), NDT Specialist (Non-Destructive Testing Specialist), NDT Technician (Non-Destructive Testing Technician) among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 17-3029.

Engineering Technologists and Technicians in other statesFloridaCaliforniaMichiganOhioNew YorkNorth CarolinaIllinoisNew Jersey

About the data on this page

Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).

  • BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics

    May 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.

  • IPEDS Completions

    2024-25 (provisional)

    Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.

  • College Scorecard, Field of Study

    2020-21 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.

    Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA

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